I just completed further research into the usages of the international law of Discovery. I have co-written an article with Associate Dean Lisa Lesage from my school, Lewis & Clark Law School, and with Sebastian Lopez Escarcena from the Pontificia Catolica Universidad de Chile. I think you will be interested to see how Spain and [...]

Soon, as many as 200 citizens of the Penobscot Nation will be working in a 36,000-square-foot warehouse located in the heart of the community, fulfilling more than $100 million in contracts the tribe is close to securing with U.S. Department of Defense contractors. The work ranges from recycling wooden crates for the Army to building [...]

The press reports that decades after the federal government’s dammed the Missouri River and flooded prime land on several Native American reservations and forced thousands of families to relocate, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to make amends. The group, including all three members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation, has introduced legislation that would establish [...]

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is addressing its reservation housing shortage by building its own homes. Tribal officials showed off a high-tech plant where manufactured homes are being built for the reservation. The facility has the capacity to build as many as 48 homes for low-income families each year and employs tribal citizens. U.S. Senator Tim. [...]

The Berenstain Bears cartoon characters will be speaking the Lakota language in twenty episodes of their animated series to be broadcast on South Dakota Public Television starting in the fall of 2011. Lakota Language Consortium director Wilhelm Meya says it’s the first time in the United States that a cartoon series has been translated to [...]

Indian Country Today reports that due to ongoing human rights violations affecting the Indigenous peoples in Guatemala, that country risks becoming “ungovernable” according to the U.N. official in charge of Indigenous rights. The problems revolve around the lack of prior consultation with Indigenous peoples, “as well as territorial and civil rights in Guatemala according to [...]

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has issued a rebuke to the Australian Government over its treatment of Indigenous people. The Committee delivered its final assessment on Australia for 2010 by congratulating the Labor Government for issuing an apology to the Stolen Generations of Aborigine people, but it also criticised successive [...]

Here’s a blogster’s report on the NY tobacco tax controversy that is seriously heating up. Apparently, NY Governor Paterson reiterated yesterday his intent to collect taxes on cigarettes sold to non-natives at Indian-owned stores. He worried openly on WOR Radio about the possible repercussions. The blog writes in part: “The warning signs are there. Members [...]

The Onondaga Nation in upstate New York will likely stop selling national-brand cigarettes next month and will rely solely on Indian-made brands at its smoke shop south of Syracuse, a nation attorney said. “Unless something changes, as of Sept. 1 we won’t be able to sell major brands that are untaxed,” said lawyer Joe Heath. [...]

The news reports that a survey found that 69% of New York voters want the state to honor Indian treaty rights. The poll showed strong support for Indian treaties which prevent taxation of Native American-sold goods, according to a Zogby International poll conducted on behalf of the Seneca Nation of Indians. The poll, conducted the [...]